Puzzle Pieces

“Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!’” (Genesis 28:16 NLT)

 

When doing jigsaw puzzles, I have a system. First, I find the corner pieces. Then, I fill in the edge pieces. After that, I sort the rest of the pieces by their characteristics and shapes. My system works pretty well, but sometimes I get stuck in one spot. I line up all the pieces that I think will fit and try them one after another. When I finally find the one that fits, I am surprised that I didn’t recognize it earlier. It is usually a piece that was right in front of me all along but looked different than I expected. 

 

I approach most of life’s puzzles with a similar mindset. In my desire for security and satisfaction, I look to relationships, attachments, social acceptance, accomplishments, etc.  I use my wits to sort through problems and figure out how things fit together. When I get stuck, I try every resource that is available--jamming more time, attention, energy, information, and money into the situation. This rarely works. The hole in my spirit cannot be made whole with anything this world has to offer.  I am left frustrated, disappointed, and exhausted. Once I get to my wit’s end, I usually find that the overlooked piece was right in front of me all along. Like Jacob, I wake up from my grogginess and realize: The Lord was always what I needed, and I wasn’t even aware.